/ / / — 1 Intelligent Opinion So Far
28
Mar 12

What To Do When You Are Unhappy With City Life

Unhappy with city life
I received this email from a reader the other day and I felt compelled to write up a response publicly in case there are other’s who have asked the same questions:

“I typed in ‘unhappy with city life’ into google and I found your site and read everything you had to say and it’s the first time that I have found relief that someone else actually feels what I feel about London. I am so unhappy living here it is stifling and numbing every part of my life.
But no one else seems to know what I mean. And when people quote that ‘when you’ve had enough of London you’ve had enough of life’ thing at me I just wanna give them a punch! Because that’s just not true!

Before I moved to London I loved it, but now I’m a resident, well, all has changed. It depends on what the goal is, you have found that travelling like a nomad suits you, but for me, I decided on the strength of my skills to try to penetrate the acting industry and for that you need to be near a city because that’s where the industry is. So I’m stuck here!

Oh dear, eh. I don’t know what to do or how to tackle life as it stands, but that was not the point of my writing to you, for the mostpart, what you wrote spoke to me and I wanted to tell you so! I want to live near grass and trees and simple life and I have no interest in the rat race nor designer labels nor things that are contrived, do you know what I mean? I tried to make life simple by asking myself some simple questions, what am I good at? what do I love? and based on the answers I followed. But that has brought me to London and opened up a whole new snake pit. What a shame.”

Man, I’ve had extensive discussions and have come full circle on my thoughts about city life and how it can effect your pshyche, drive and overall happiness since writing that post nearly a year ago. Reading it again, and after analyzing this email from a reader, I realize that I was kind of vague with the key points I was trying to put across:

1) Admit that you are unhappy and decide to do something about it…
2) Set goals and don’t let anything distract you from reaching them…
3) Keep going

Reading these points in succession makes me slap my forehead and shout “doh” like Homer Simpson, I might as well have written “figure out a path and stick to it… or something” – the kind of wishy-washy generic advice that faux self-help micro-industries are built off of.

So in answer to the readers question, and for those trying to figure out an alternative or way out of the unhappy city life they’ve zombie walked in to, here’s uncle Lew’s advice:

1) Give it a proper shot! I left London a year ago with an outbound ticket for Bali and no real plan as to what I was doing. I just knew that I had tried (or so I thought) to make the most of my situation but it wasn’t working out, I needed a change. After traveling around a bit, calling quiet seaside towns my home as well as SE Asian super-citys (Pasig city in Manila – that was an experience), I realize that there are things I really like about city life and that if I had tried harder I could have easily lifted my gloomy outlook without too much effort.

I realize that one thing big, multi-cultural cities offer is options! In a lot of SE Asia my friday night options consist of staying in, drinking or… drinking. A lot of value is placed on family and friends in Thailand and most of SE Asia, so drinking can be a spirited and awesome affair, don’t get me wrong. But compare that to London where I can head to some crazy lesson for something or other every evening (languages, art, food, fitness, dance, whatever), and then follow it up with food choices from a zillion different countries and head to one of the hundreds of social events made for lonely souls to meet others (hop on meetup.com if you haven’t all ready), there is so much to do! Once I left, I really began to appreciate this ‘culture’ thing that people kept labeling my home city with – it simply means options.

2) Get Out! If you have had enough and there is no chance of your love for city life coming back, stop dithering, pack your bags and move! If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from this whole living on the other side of the world gig, it’s the lack of movie like moments when big things happen.

I’ll explain: in movies there always seems to be big deals made about pivitol moments in the plot – someone leaves for a 2 month trip and there’s all sorts of theatrics, from love scenes played out in airport lounges to tear inducing flashbacks accompanied by dramatic music. In real life, you decide to do something big like move abroad or live a contrarion life, and nothing really changes. Sure, you might have a few farewell beers with your friends and family, but a couple of days later everyone’s back to what they normally do every day and you still chat on facebook with everyone like you used to. That is, nothing changes apart from the removal of the frustration that comes form living a life that you know you shouldn’t be.

People I meet from the states have often moved at least 3 or 4 times in their lifetime within the US, it’s just part of finding the ‘right place’ that matches you as a person. Moving on is not such a big deal, especially if you don’t have many family ties in a certain location (kids, spouses, brothers and sisters). With plane tickets available for the price of 1 week of office lunches, and the option to come back always available, there really are no excuses.

3) Realize that your place of residence, in a similar way to lifelong careers, no longer has to be defined by the life scripts of old.

Remember when people used to work, usually for a single company, diligently saving their cash, getting a mortgage that they paid off in 20-35 years and lived in for most of their adult lives? Yeah that script has taken on new forms lately. Recessions, reckless abuse of credit and a lack of space in modern cities means that many people have become lifelong renters.

Similarly, I’ve known people who travel from their country side home at the end of every weekend to their box city apartment around the corner from their office. Hell, I read that Rasmus from my4hours works a job for 6 months of every year and lives in a baller place in Thailand for the other 6.

If you put some real thought into your situation, I’m sure you can hack your way to happiness, and get the best of all worlds. For example, the reader who emailed in could arrange an acting tour, taking classes and meeting actors in different places around the world/her home country and combine it with auditions and some industry networking. If living in London is bogging you down, try combining a great escape with career progression.

Personally, I would move to a place like Bath, Cornwall or Bristol (can you tell I’m a fan of the UK west country) and take the 1-2 hour train trip into London whenever I had an audition/class/cool people party/networking opportunity. But that’s just me ;)

— 3 Comments
03
Mar 12

The World Needs Answers Not More Questions

Stop Asking Questions - Start Giving Answers
If your childhood was anything like mine, you were constantly pushed to ask questions:

“Remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question!”

“Smart people question everything”

…And other such sayings seemed to fly out of the mouths of teachers, parents and intelligent adults on an almost daily basis.

The adults were right, the greatest minds in history famously questioned everything, even seemingly logical facts that others took for granted (“the world is flat” for example).

The smartest and most successful individuals I have met seem to have the art of asking questions down to a tee, you can almost see the cogs in their brain turning as they listen to an answer; filtering the information their ears are receiving into ideas and practical translations to be used in future.

As adults trying to build expertise, trust and respect, there has to be a point where we stop asking questions of everyone else and start providing answers

Growing up I was raised by my father, and he had a few basic rules or principles that he would use to prop me up after falling down or whenever I would do something stupid (think getting caught doing something you weren’t supposed to, and responding with “but everybody else was doing it”). His favorite line was “lead, don’t follow.”

I believe that to be a leader, in any capacity, you have to be the guy providing answers and not asking questions

I’m not saying you should know everything about everything, learning is living and all that jazz. Rather, if you want to be seen as a leader within a field, as the best man/woman for a job, as the go-to person within an industry or simply as a person worth respecting and looking up to – you need to provide more answers for people then you do questions.

Think of the last time someone asked you a question on a subject that you knew only a little bit about, was your answer “maybe it’s this?” or was it “I think it’s [solution], lets try it so we know for sure”.

Your answers don’t have to be correct all of the time, it’s very likely that you’ll predominantly be wrong as the answers guy, at least starting out. But as you provide more and more answers, meaning you build your own self-confidence and test out different answers for yourself – you gain experience and at the same time, trust.

People start to realize that if they want an answer rather then a discussion, you’re who they call.

Everyone wants someone who can remove doubt, in a world that is full of it. You want them to scroll to your name in their iphone’s contacts when this need arises. You provide answers. You are a leader.

/ — 4 Comments
23
Feb 12

How To Actually Get Work Done From A Coffee Shop

Worm From Starbucks
I used to walk past my local Starbucks and look down my nose at the hipster types inside, with their ipads, netbooks and, god forbid, moleskine notebooks laid out on the table next to their $7 freakachino lattes. I mean… who do they think they’re kidding, if not watching films they’re, yet again, tweaking their FaceBook profile. I firmly believed that no-one produced anything of value sitting on a coffee shop sofa.

Just over a year later, I’m far less cynical and 90% of my day is spent in coffee shops and cafes of some sort, knocking back cups of black coffee (green tea lately – almost the same buzz with some health benefits and less of the jitteriness) and being just as productive, if not more so, then when I used to spend my days in a home office. I also own a couple moleskine’s that I write in when I want to feel like Hemingway without… you know… any of his talent!

I would actually say that if your plan is to actually make money online, in any serious fashion, while on the road or living abroad then being able to work in mildly social settings like coffee shops, hotel lobbys and the occasional quiet restaurant is a skill worth picking up.

Here are my tips for not getting caught in the facebook trap – where you open up your laptop all eager like, completely forget what you had to do & then spend 3 hours browsing Facebook – when you next sit down at the coffee shop and whip out your shiny macbook/ugly IBM/lesser computer:

Make a plan/to-do list before you leave the house

The simplest tip I can give you is best implemented before you head off for a morning/afternoon at your local cafe. Sit and write down or type (in Evernote I hope) all the small tasks you want to get done throughout the day.

I promise you, as soon as you head out your mind will go blank – those vital tasks that seemed urgent when you woke up will take some serious effort to be remembered. A simple list can save the hassle. Look into GTD methods if you want to go deeper on this.

Close your email app/page

For some strange reason, as soon as I sit down to work in a mildly social setting, I’m like a cat who just broke in to a yarn store, everything around me becomes one giant distraction/playtoy. For this reason, I like to check my emails for a set amount of time through gmail (usually 10 minutes), and then close the tab and turn off email notifications for around an hour or so to reduce those “oooh, new email, let me check it” moments and stay focused.

I tried using a mac app called self control for a while, it allows you to set a blacklist of websites with an adjustable countdown timer. Until it’s timer reaches the 0:00 mark, you cant access those websites through any browser – and quitting the app, even uninstalling it, do nothing to remove the restriction. It’s pretty hardcore, but might come in handy if you really have no self control.

Decent Music + Headphones

Second to decent headphones that block out peoples chatter/grinding coffee machines/the cafe staff’s angry comments about you abusing their free wi-fi, finding good music, bi-nural beats or white noise generators is a good way let people know you are wired in and keep your mind clear. Some suggestions:

The Study Music Project is great for when you just need to fully concentrate, like when writing content or reading an in-depth report/tutorial. It lacks vocals that sometimes distract you, and all the classical songs/melodies have this calm, pleasant vibe that put you in a positive state. This playlist got me through University. The illustrations in the videos are cool to watch during down-time too.

White Noise – Finch reguarly sips from the white noise water fountain in his quest for increasing productivity while working online, read his article for more information and check out the white noise generator website here.

Binural beats – another tool that Finch reccomends, not something I use but worth checking out (sample here)

Add Some Urgency

The battery on my macbook is scary old. I mean it’s probably had more then 2000 charge cycles so the amount of time I get on it is pretty low (1 hour 30 minutes, if I’m lucky). Whenever I head to a cafe with wi-fi but no power outlets, there is this strange occurrence where I suddenly notice I have 30 minutes left on my battery, and end up powering through more work then I had done for the previous hour, right up until my battery hits the 0% mark. That sense of urgency, the fact that I have to head home when the battery dies and probably wont get much more work done when I do, gives me a productivity jolt in the behind.

Set yourself a leaving time for the cafe, or end up kidding yourself and stretching 10 minute tasks over 2 hours. Check out the pomodoro technique for an interesting, time based productivity method.

If You Want To Socialize… Socialize! If You Want To Get Shit Done…

The truth is, most cafes are designed to be comfortable social settings for hipsters to sit around buying over priced (but tasty) lattes and eating carrot cake. If you want to get out of the house/office to sit and think for a while, or if you want to catch up with your old mate: leave your laptop at home and enjoy your social/relaxing time.

Similarly, if you want to get some shit done, texting your mates to join you for a coffee and a catch up and expecting to finish anything, simply because you packed your laptop is not a good idea.

Some times you just have to take your time & your goals seriously, ignore your friends calls/texts for half a day (it’s fine, just buy first rounds when you meet up in the evening to make up for it) and do the work.

— 2 Comments
17
Jan 12

Why I Am (Staying) In South East Asia

Christmas Santas
Man, what a crazy start to 2012 hey!

I spent christmas 2011 with Joe & Justin from Adsense Flippers in Davao, Philippines. These guys are the bomb, and made a lonely traveller feel at home over the Christmas period (check out their latest podcast episode on AdsenseFlippers.com – great stuff that’s relevant to alot of entrepreneurs who battle with defining the value in their offering).

Justin organized a pre-christmas present run, where we drove around Davao in a Jeepney wearing santa hats, handing out presents to (surprisingly weary lol) kids, check out the video by John Paul Grant from LifeStyleBusinessDesign.com.

Joe then kicked my ass in a post-Christmas-glutony gym session, still feeling the effects of that two weeks later.

New Years was spent in Manila, watching fireworks go off in every direction from a condo rooftop with Ava (who makes very classy video intros), Stephen W. (who runs remoteseotools and other services) and my partner in crime Nick H.

So it’s taken two weeks to recover from the holiday season, hence the dust you see settling on this old blog. But I’m back, settled in Pasig city, Manila for the month (heading to Chiang Mai, Thailand soon) and ready to put some words down on paper again.

—–

A lot of discussion and thoughts I’ve been having recently are based around the “lifestyle design” industry and the deeper messages behind it.

I have a friend who recently quit his office job and wants to travel and build his skill set. Thinking about his situation makes me think about why I headed out to SE Asia originally, and wether I chose the “right path” (the alternative, in my mind, being settling in the UK and working my way up the London corporate ladder).

I’ve also put allot of thought into why I should keep exploring SE Asia, trying to uncover my motivations and really get to the root of what drives me. I’m not setting any New Years resoloutions this year (read Raam Dev’s the annual placebo effect article to see why), so I guess I’ll have to make do with introspective thought

The Various Motivators Of The People You Meet In Asia

I don’t like to generalize, but when I do I try and back it up :-D . There’s two common motivators behind the wandering souls you meet travelling and settled across various locations in the Philippines, Indonesia and I’m assuming other locations in SE Asia:

Not Going Home

These are the vagabonds of the world, those in love with exploration, new experiences and that ‘sensation overload’ feeling. Your average NGH‘er is usually very young (17-24) and allot of the time from a small city/country/state (or a very ‘cosmopolitan’ big/medium city). Travel & new experiences are the main priorities for the NGHer, and they arrange everything else to enable and support this travel lifestyle.

This is how many people I’ve met in Asia started out, although their motivations have often evolved into one of the other two listed here…

The Business Heads

These guys have a “business first, everything else after” approach that makes me think that their location and love of travel and exploration play a tiny part in their decisions, if any at all. To the business head, location isn’t really important – growing their business (wether that be through adding quality people to their network, hiring staff or just drastically cutting costs – both living and business expenses) is the main motivator.

Drop a business head in the middle of the Amazonian jungle with empty pockets and they would find a way to use that locations assets to their advantage, probably emerging 3 years later with a flourishing export business and a wallet fat enough to put many a lifestyle designer to shame ;)

In Love With The Country

I’ve only met a few of these ‘lovers‘, but I have noticed that there are two sides to those motivated by their love for a country/city/beach side town:

They Came, They Fell In Love With The Place, They Were Blinded, They Got Screwed
These guys are sad to see, you can usually find them at 11am knocking a few beers back at the beach bar and grumbling softly to their expat friends.

Allot of very smart people back home, come to places like the Philippines and seem to loose all sensibilities, next thing you know they are making overzealous investments (in people, businesses, property and other things) that are loaded with risk and quickly loose their hat to people who actually know how the country and its systems work!

They Came, They Fell In Love With The Place, They Figured Out A Way To Make It Work
There’s a thin line between the lovers who made it work and the ones who got screwed. The difference usually lies in how down to earth and honest with themselves they are.

A clear headed, sensible individual who wants to move to a new country looks at things rationally, just like they would back home and progresses accordingly. Allot of the time they adjust their decision to allow for variables introduced by their new location, like the difficulties of owning property in the Philippines or of owning 100% of a business in Thailand. Those who get blinded look at risky investments, or decisions with an extraordinary amount of downside compared to up, and seem to say “ahh, it will all work out for the best – after all, I love this place.”

It sounds crazy but its true, and its a weird thing to see!

Why I’ve Been Exploring SE Asia For The Past 9 Months

To put it plainly, I’m here to create an unfair advantage for myself!

The ability to meet with, share information and work with cool entrepreneurs is multiplied by x10 when your one of the only accessible people in the country doing “cool online stuff” and can talk from a position of experience about issues that other are having.

I don’t try and pretend to know more then I do, or act like a baller when I’m clearly not (yet ;-D), but I do try and provide at least a bit of value to everyone I meet.

In the Philippines for example (particuarly Manila), there are thousands of expats and very smart Filippinos working for multinational BPO’s, banks and technology firms. Check out this post on Soverign man: it’s booming over here, what’s holding you back. However, I meet someone who earns their crust online, ecspecially someone who I can help out in some way and just feel an instant connection, like you used to be old buddies sharing a Ribena on the school playground (or capri-sun, whatever your poison was as a kid).

I don’t like to commoditize relationships, and doing so would probably rub a lot of the people I’ve met on my travels the wrong way, but meeting, having a few drinks, shooting hoops and sharing amazing moments like NYE fireworks across the Manila skyline is why I am, and will be staying in SE Asia!

/ — 5 Comments
19
Dec 11

Building & Maintaining A Lifestyle In SE Asia

Mindoro banka boat view
There’s a common trend that I’ve noticed among the travel blogger crowds that involves settling down somewhere, often in some cool bohemian location with fast internet connections and beautiful landscapes that inspire focus and introspective thinking, so that they can crank on work or a large project of some sort.

I did it (for 2 months instead of 4) in Cebu and plan to do it again in Thailand soon for a lot longer.

Erin & Simon from Never Ending Voyage, Johnny from Johnny Vagabond & Christine & her family from Almost Fearless have done it.

Even the Israelites in the bible times were known as ‘seminomads,’ often settling in locations long enough to build small economies and create agricultural systems during their 40 year exodus from Egypt.

Why The Change Of Heart?

So what’s with this tendency for people who always seem on the move, who a year ago were making bold and audacious plans to visit every continent or country in the world, suddenly deciding to ‘settle down’? Chris Guillebeau in his annual business review post puts it best:

What I’ve realized in more than a decade of doing this in one fashion or another is that I can maintain things from anywhere, but I wouldn’t want to develop and launch things from anywhere. The distinction is important: for long-term creative purposes, I need a certain amount of stability and reliable infrastructure.
[...]LESSON: Travel the world, but set aside time to “make stuff.”

If you are sitting at your dining room table dreaming of relaxing on some exoctic island in SE Asia, feel some comfort in the knowledge that I’m here on a tropical island dreaming of a quiet dining room table and chair to work from, if only to get into that mind-set that comes from having everything in order so that I can focus on the task at hand.

Right now I have 3 or 4 big to-do’s written out in Evernote, an AC unit in the corner of my hotel room that sounds like my nanny’s old smiley face vacuum cleaner (remember those?) and a soft baseline shaking my chair from the local karaoke joint to accompany it all. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t change it for the world – in fact my hotel in Davao city, Philippines is what I would call backpacker-luxury and I’m having a ton of fun here – but the truth is that doing anything more then just maintaining what I have previously built or started working on is difficult in this in-transit state.

If you want to create a better life for yourself in SE Asia, realize that traveling constantly and hopping from place to place is great for building new relationships and finding new opportunities, but is not conducive to building/developing a career or business.

Take advantage of those suburban-mundane saturday evenings that you were complaining about to your buddy, put off watching that episode of big bang theory and crank on that creative or developmental task way before you consider booking your flights.

If traveling is already a big part of your lifestyle, consider joining me for a medium to long term stay in Chiang Mai or following Ryans footsteps in Columbia.

It’s OK… All the cool travelers are doing it

If you really want to build a life for yourself abroad, you wont be able to do it from your hostel bed (I’ve tried). You will need to establish a way to remove all the distractions that come with sporadic travel so that you can give your all to the thing that matters.

Better find yourself a Settlin’ In Spot.

/ / — 12 Comments
09
Dec 11

Planning A Trip To The Philippines? 4 Things To Keep In Mind

Mindoro Waterfall
I’ve been in the Philippines for 6 months now, long enough to feel like I’ve got a bit of a grasp of the place.

Before I came, I had the stories and advice of David Hehenberger & Dan to go off, so I thought I was pretty well prepared. 6 months later, and I realize that I knew NOTHING then. Here’s the advice that I would have given to past-me before he arrived in this country:

The Food

Are you in a country that has good food options available? Are there loads of international food spots and high quality cuisine joints around every corner (Londoners, I’m thinking of you here)? Or maybe you’re used to cheap, awesome curries and satay’s at your nearest food market (for those in Thailand or Indonesia)?

If you’re leaving for the Philippines soon, hit one of those food spots right now and chow down like it was your last meal!

The Philippines sucks for food options. If you’re heading to Manila, Cebu or one of the other medium to large cities, the international chain food places are OK but nothing you cant get at home, and for a country in the middle of SE Asia it is amazing how bad the food is in the Philippines compared to neighboring countries.

If you’re OK with greasy meat (greasy everything, honestly), ridiculous amounts of rice, lack of decent vegetable dishes and copious amounts of sugar in meals that should only have a pinch – you’ll like the food here. If not, budget extra to eat at the chain and international food spots. Eating at the canteens, as they’re called here, on the roadside will be cheap but not enjoyable at all.

Clothes

This obviously doesn’t apply if you’re living out in the mountains or in a secluded beach hut away from modern civilization (which you can do here), but in most of the cities clothes shopping is surprisingly cheap and there is a good selection of brands and materials available.

This was a bit of a shock to me after visiting my first mall (SM malls are scattered all over this island nation) and walking into an Adidas, timberland and even a north face shop and being surprised at how much was available and how reasonable the prices were compared to the UK. Consider leaving a few key purchases off of your shopping list and buying them here instead, or just rest easy knowing you can replace your Vibram five fingers without too much hassle once the stank hits them.

A young guy I met in Manila wouldn’t stop bragging about his custom tailored wool trousers. He found the material at a market and took it to a tailor he found online in Manila, 2 days later he had a swanky pair of wool trousers (they just looked like black jeans), that he then told me he hadn’t washed for 3 months because the material was so durable. He says durable, I say nasty. But consider getting some suits, trousers, blazers and other custom clothing tailored here to save a few hundred bucks on what you might pay at home.

The Partying

The Philippines is heaven for any foreign man under the age of 40 (or over, but young westerners especially are like unicorns here) who wants to party and drink himself into an early grave. This is one of those things you don’t really appreciate (or despise, whatever) until you get here.

At first, I thought this was great. 6 months on, I’m tired of it and feel like I need to go on a detox or something.

Why is this country so much fun? Well to generalize, the people here are just pretty. And there’s all different kinds of pretty. Beautiful, sexy, handsome, cute… the Philippines has it all. This is of course subjective, but the skin tone, expressiveness, bone structure, body types and smiles of Filipinos is something else. And ladies I’m not just talking about the women here, the men are a handsome bunch too. Hetro-handsome, like Prince ;-)

Staring out the window of my Taxi on the way home last week, I realized that this constant surrounding of beautiful people releases some kind of toxin in the brains of unwitting foreigners, it’s like being in a nightclub full of pretty folks who are all actually friendly (this is the anti-thesis of western nightclubs). And that’s the other thing…

As a foreign man in this country, you are kind of treated how I imagine a rock star would be treated on a day to day basis. First of all you are different from the norm here, you could even say “exotic”. Second of all you are perceived to be rich by pretty much everyone, and to be honest if you are coming from a western country then at some point in your life you probably have been a lot richer then a large majority of the population here. There are all sorts of by-products of this combination: from friendly stares from nearly everyone as you walk down the street to the seemingly magical ability to converse with anyone and every one.

Take this ‘soft-rock star’ concept to a bar or club here, throw in 50 peso bottles of beer and you have some of the craziest nights out you will ever experience.

I could write about the partying in the Philippines for hours, it’s truly something else. But realize that your health, productivity (especially if you’re trying to start a business or career here in the Philippines) and possibly your outlook on life are all at risk of coming second place to the party lifestyle here if you let it. If you want to stay here long-term, you will need to make ‘balance’ as it applies to lifestyle one of your priorities. You also can’t let it go to your head, but that’s another post.

The Poverty

If you’re coming from the west, and you aren’t used to seeing poverty all around you every day, the Philippines will take some getting used to.

This is something that you will find in many parts of Asia, and has a load of moral elements involved (obligation, feelings of helplessness, wether you should give that 6 year old child following you 20 pesos or not) that I don’t want to get into here – but you really have to thicken your skin to it if your going to get by.

You can bubble yourself away from it if you really try, but I almost feel like you would be doing yourself a dis-service. Accept that you are living in a country where the majority of people are poor, forget the fact and start getting to know some people. Who knows, you might figure out a a way that you can help

Does It Sound Like I’m Ragging On The Phils?

Not my intention :-)

I wanted this to be a more realistic view of life in the Philippines for an expat or someone planning a long to medium term stay. Not another “cool waterfalls to check out in Palawan” guide for backpackers.

Saying that, there are some huge upsides to living in the Philippines, especially for someone trying to cut their US or European living costs in order to build a business or career and re-invest into it, rather then buying a new 3 series so you don’t feel out of place at the neighbors BBQ:

  • Living here is CHEAP: you can live very well on $1k a month, and cheaper then that if you’re willing to take a bump in your standard of living. For example on the island of Mindoro, I rented a studio apartment for 3.5k pesos a month, that’s $70 US! Electricity and gas for the stove were another 1k or so on top of that. Here in Cebu, my accomodation is substantially more expensive, and in Dumaguete you are looking at around 10-16k pesos a month (around the $300 mark) for a decent one bedroom apartment, although you will have to hook up broadband internet yourself and it wont be furnished. Monthly rates on hotel stays can be had for 16-20k, a good alternative.
  • Staff options: If you are looking to grow your business in some way, say you have coding or programming requirements, need staff to work your SEO process or just need a good PA, there are few places that I can think of that match the Philippines in terms of potential. I recommend checking out Chris Ducker over at Virtual Business Lifestyle for more info here.
  • Some beautiful scenery: get out of the cities, and you can find some amazing scenery and sights here. Beautiful beaches, stunning waterfalls carved into jungles, mountains and the kind of landscapes you only see in movies. Oh and the diving, it’s second to none (so I hear, I haven’t been yet :-s)
  • IT’S SO DAMN CHEAP!
  • Your ‘big fish’ status can connect you with big hitters that you would never have the chance to meet otherwise: cool ass expat surfers inviting you to dinner on their yacths: check. Soaking up the knowledge of successful business owners over beers or a coffee: happens all the time. Leverage the fact that you are a pioneer of sorts and are trying to do something unique while based on a tropical island, and you will find yourself attracting the small group here who are trying to do the same!
  • It’s cowboy country: there are no limits to what you can do here. Lack of structure in key areas can be a hinderance if you let it, but it can also be a HUGE plus. I’m not saying you should rob banks like some sort of John Wayne 2.0, but try looking into finance and banking opportunities here that might be a little less regulated then back home

The Philippines is only just starting to make sense to me, and I’m sure I will be sharing more content about SE Asia’s secret playground in future. I’d love to hear your own thoughts on the Philippines in the comments below!

/ / — 3 Comments
03
Dec 11

Biggie Smalls On Marketing and Entrepreneurship

Biggie Smalls On Entrepreneurship

Big Poppa is blazing out of my weedy laptop speakers.

RapGenius.com is loaded up in Chrome browser

It’s Friday Night

… One of my favourite Biggie songs, ‘10 crack commandments‘ is playing and I’m browsing the lyric definitions.

“It’s rules to this shit, I wrote me a manual
A step-by-step booklet for you to get
Your game on track, not your wig pushed back”

In non-gangsta-rap speak:

“This “manual” is a metaphor for this song, which he believes will teach one how to be a good drug dealer. It will also help you avoid getting your scalp blown off your head”

Man, this is more fun then watching Man vs. Wild on the discovery channel (that Bear Grylls dude is gnarly)

It occurs to me that Biggie did write a manual with this song, and not just for drug dealing. Given a different childhood path, who knows, maybe the brooklyn rapper would have become a college professor or silicon valley startup consultant?

With this in mind, I’ve taken the liberty of translating Biggie smalls ’10 crack commandments’ into the messages that I truely beleive he was trying to put across – the ‘10 successful business and happy lifestyle commandments‘

Rule Number Uno: never let no one know
How much dough you hold cause you know
The cheddar breed jealousy ‘specially
If that man fucked up, get yo’ ass stuck up

RapGenius.com def:

If people know how much money you have on you, they’ll get jealous and kill you…especially if we’re talking about crackheads

The ’10 successful business and happy lifestyle commandments’ translation:

More important then not telling people how much you’re worth (no opinion here – I’ll leave it to Andrew Warner on Mixergy to ask those questions), is the note on jealousy and envy.

My landlord here in Cebu has studied Buddhism and shares some very interesting opinions on jealousy; particularly comparing your apparent successes to the successes of those around you. His conclusion is that your ego tells you that you are better then them, that they are no smarter then you and that you, logically, should be more successful.

The trick is to quiet that pesky ego down and just focus on achieving your goals. The success of others is not something to be envied, it is something to be studied and adopted into your own strategy.

Don’t look at your buddy with the brand new BMW M6 and think “what a prick.” Take him out for a beer, casually discuss life, his opinions on success and his story, and try and draw out the core elements that you believe allowed him to make such a gorgeous, mouth watering car purchase (I really want an M6). He gets a few rounds of free beer, you gather some useful tried-and-tested information that can be adopted into your strategy and future plans. No one gets “stuck up”.

Number 2: never let ‘em know your next move
Don’t you know Bad Boys move in silence and violence?
Take it from your highness
I done squeezed mad clips at these cats for their bricks and chips

The RapGenius.com definition:

Never let anyone know what your plans are for furthering your drug empire

The ’10 successful business and happy lifestyle commandments’ translation:

Derek Sivers relays this point – keep your goals to yourself. Essentially, by sharing your goals and “I’m going to do so & so, just watch” moments with others, you are tricking your brain into believing that you have already started working on said goal.

You’ve made no progress, but your brain tells you that you’ve done a shit load as soon as the “my plan is to…” words leave your mouth.
“Announcing your plans to others satisfies your self-identity just enough that you’re less motivated to do the hard work needed.”

Number 3: never trust no-bo-dy
Your moms’ll set that ass up, properly gassed up
Hoodied and masked up, shit, for that fast buck
She be laying in the bushes to light that ass up

Rap Genius:

A great extended conceit here: even your mom — with the proper motivation (“gassed up”) — will don a ski mask and wait in the bushes to shoot you

The ’10 successful business and happy lifestyle commandments’ translation:

The issue here is not in your mum waiting in the bushes outside your house, ski mask and shotgun at the ready.

The issue is trust. Trust is often hard to earn, easy to loose and something people and companies feel is valuable enough to try and fake.

Remember all of those ‘flogs’ and ‘farticles’ that affiliates of acai berry and other shady products would use to push their goods. These were attempts at hacking the trust process: borrowing the image of brands, people and platforms (reputable newspapers and publications) to sell their ’300 diet’ ebooks or ‘$1 trial and $80 monthly re-bill’ products. Unfortunately, trust can be engineered.

On the flipside, as an entrepreneur/producer and (hopefully) provider of value, it is important that you recognize where trust can inadvertently poke its head.

For example, if someone recommends a customer to you, they are letting you borrow the trust that the customer has given them – you have a responsibility not to mess that up (if you ever want another referral).

I find it’s best to be genrous with who you trust, without being too ignorant. But on the flipside, be quick to take that trust away if someone takes it for granted. Life is too short to knowingly allow people to take advantage.

Number 4: I know you heard this before
“Never get high on your own supply”

RapGenius.com:

Frank Lopez tells this to Tony Montana in Scarface, advice famously ignored
Also a reference to the famous Ice Cube line from the N.W.A. song “Dopeman”

The ’10 successful business and happy lifestyle commandments’ translation:

Outside of the drug trade, I think this can gracefully be converted to: “don’t believe your own bullshit.”

For those trying to build businesses, careers and cool shit, read this as don’t create irrational emotional bonds to your idea, product or line of work (unless your an artist – music, graphic, whatever – you better love that stuff because there’s a high chance that no-one else will for a long time).

Try and keep a ’10,000 foot view’ of your progress and the effects of your decisions, it will keep you grounded and stop you from wasting time regretting decisions rather then analyzing and adjusting with the goal of improvement.

Number 5: never sell no crack where you rest at
I don’t care if they want a ounce, tell ‘em “bounce!”

Rap G:

Don’t sell any crack out of your home
Regardless of the size/amount they request, tell them to leave!

The ’10 successful business and happy lifestyle commandments’ translation:

To me the message here is; find customers or consumers for your new business or project, not friends and family to support you and make you feel great about ‘trying something new’.

Don’t rely on dinner-party conversations to validate your idea or even a focus group who are giving opinions on a product that they would probably never pay for (more likely that you’re paying them).

Credit cards and leather wallets are the only opinions that count when it comes to assessing how valid your business is, something that every person with a money-making idea quickly realizes when they get to the end of a month, declare that they’ve been ‘crushing it’ and getting so much done, and then struggle to pay the rent.

Number 6: that goddamn credit? Dead it
You think a crackhead paying you back, shit forget it!

R Genius:

no i-owe-you’s, youll never get it

The ’10 successful business and happy lifestyle commandments’ translation:

A simple rule for those trying to baseline their expenses so that they can build and grow something valuable, something I’m currently struggling with, is to pay off any and all debts and focus all of your spending on asset-building purchases.

This doesn’t have to mean cutting out your daily Chai Tea Latte to save money (love me a C-Latte), instead you can get creative and turn what would have been outright expense (liability in Rich dad/Poor Dad speak) into something that helps you build and progress your business. Turn your spare room into an office and save on rental and commute costs. Or better yet, turn your house into a business hub where entrepreneurs congregate. Allot of fun can be had with this one!

7: this rule is so underrated
Keep your family and business completely separated
Money and blood don’t mix like 2 dicks and no bitch
Find yourself in serious shit

Rap Gizzle:

Like mixing family and business, mixing two wieners and no birdie isn’t cool by Biggie, because it leads to you finding yourself “in serious shit” (both figuratively, i.e. excommunicated from the Church etc. and literally, i.e. anal sex/“in serious shit”)

The ’10 successful business and happy lifestyle commandments’ translation:

To be honest, I think Biggie’s explanation is pretty universal here. The RapGenius explanation… not so much.

Number 8: never keep no weight on you!
Them cats that squeeze your guns can hold jums too

R. Geezy:

Don’t keep a large quantity (“weight”) of crack on you. Let your gun-squeezing underlings bear the burden of liability if you get caught
“Jums” are jumbo crack rocks (usually sold for $20); don’t sell these yourself! Hire somebody (helps you, helps the economy)

The ’10 successful business and happy lifestyle commandments’ translation:

This isn’t so much an explanation as a lesson: when you can’t throw money at problems and roadblocks, get creative to figure out ways around it or through it. My favorite example of this is the AirBnB founders, who created presidential nominee themed novelty cereal boxes, and sold them to provide some cash runway while they built their business. They also (allegedly) spammed craigslist users in their early days to gain customers, but hey… a startups gotta do what a startups gotta do!

Number 9 shoulda been Number 1 to me:
If you ain’t gettin’ bagged stay the fuck from police
If niggas think you snitchin’ they ain’t trying to listen
They be sittin’ in your kitchen, waiting to start hittin’

The Genius Of Rap:

If you’re not getting arrested, don’t be seen with police under any circumstances because people will see you, think you’re a snitch, and then try to kill you
This rule reflects B.I.G.’s “Thug Code of Honor” mentality. It was made famous by Cam’ron’s discourse on snitching in his interview with Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes

The ’10 successful business and happy lifestyle commandments’ translation:

Another lesson, this time on perceptions.

Allot of the time, how people perceive you can be more important then the value you are providing. Just ask some of the profitless startups that get tech crunch write-ups and a couple months later get acquired. Or the internet marketing dudes trying to sell you the lamborghini lifestyle but driving a Fiat.

This can work the other way too, if you’re providing so much value it hurts, most people are willing to overlook those perceptions in favor of results. It’s one of those areas of life that you should know what side you lie on, but not let define your progress.

Number 10: a strong word called “consignment”
Strictly for live men, not for freshmen
If you ain’t got the clientele, say “hell no!”
Cause they gon’ want they money rain sleet hail snow

Rapius Genius Maximus:

This sound business advice — the flipside of the “inventory” advice in Rule 8 — recommends conservative leverage: if you don’t have the money, don’t take crack on consignment!
This song came out in 1997…11 years before the Lehman Brothers collapse…(sigh)
Don’t take drugs on credit because unless you’re sure you can sell them fast enough, the guy that gave you credit isn’t going to settle for a payment plan when it’s time to collect

The ’10 successful business and happy lifestyle commandments’ translation:

RapGenius has this one, “conservative leverage” indeed!

——-

As silly as it sounds, rap music has taught me allot about life and I’m grateful for being exposed to it from such a young age (if not slightly concerned about the blasé nature in which my parents let me listen to music).

I also realize that allot of lessons can be learned from artists weaving their way through the music industry, no matter what your opinions are on how much talent they possess.

Modern day rappers have turned character development and story-telling into an art form! Stories of gangster rappers previous lives as ex-policemen and the like are popping up all the time, it’s hard to hide anything these days. But in industries like music where millions of dollars are often involved, watching the marketing and media plays is like going to the theatre. Complex stories are made up and expertly performed right before you; it’s a thing of beauty.

I’m sure Biggie’s discography has plenty more stories and lessons for todays entrepreneur! Let me know what you think of these interpretations in the comments below.

P.S. For those who have no idea who Biggie Smalls is or have never heard the track I’m referring to, this is for you:

/ / — Leave A Comment, Handsome!
26
Nov 11

We’re Gonna Dance To One Song & One Song Only: The Internet Paradox

Tanya & Lewis
Hi, I’m Lewis and I’m addicted to the internet.

There, I said it! I’m an internet addict!

I’ve known this for a long time. I love the internet and everything about it. For the past 90 days, I’ve probably had 1 day where I haven’t opened my laptop and gone online for at least 5 minutes. I’m hooked dammit!

Here’s why:

My auntie used to own an internet cafe back in the 90′s, before internet cafes were cool. Every day after school, I would buy a bunch of penny sweets and a 10p panda pop (remember those? Some hippy mummy fascists pretty much forced the manufacturer to kill the product not too long ago), sit in my aunties shop and open up this wonderful gateway to a world full of information and fun.

AOL was the internet back then

I’d open up AOL on the old Windows 98 desktop, click connect and sit through a minute of whirling and squeaking sounds from the computers modem.

But then I’d be online. Anything I wanted to know, see or do was possible – and that thought blew my mind as a child. Nearly a decade or so later, and my mind is still blown by this digital world that turns every person with an index finger and a telephone line into a superhuman of sorts. You can do, see, find out or become anything online. It’s the modern day version of the wild west, or the caveman era even, new discoveries (as a result of boundry pushing?) are the norm.

The same thing that makes the internet so amazing, is the same thing that makes it catastrophic to someone trying to build something using it as a platform

So you’re building a new internet business. The steps are (mostly) laid out, you’ve studied the greats who have travelled the path before you, you’ve carefully crafted your offer, established your target market and know exactly how you will get your product in front of the people who will buy it.

So you’re on a path to success…

After a long day of writing sales copy and making a few huge strides towards launching and/or growing your business, you hit up your favorite internet hangout spot to blow off some steam. Twitter, Reddit, Dynamite Circle or Hacker News. Work hard, play (read) hard, right?

Oooh, what’s this; a link on Twitter to an inc magazine article about software billionaires. A discussion about a cool music-focused ‘lifestyle business’ on HackerNews or a baller case study about someone crushing it in e-commerce on Dynamite Circle.

Change the examples to suit your situation, but this happens to me every day. And after reading these articles, discussions and case studies, the end result is usually a visit to namecheap.com and a domain name purchase for a new ‘inspired’ business idea that I have convinced myself is my ‘thing’.

I can spend up to a couple of months sometimes wasting mental energy and time on these new ideas, I’ll call them spin-offs, that distract me from my original project, that business in the feutus stages that needs at least 1-2 years of intense focus and energy from me in order to see any sort of success.

Bright, sparkly things & cutting it all out

The internet is this amazing resource that, if you let it, can provide more knowledge and noise then you could ever consume in one lifetime.

That’s why today, instead of posting the second edition of It’s A Wrap Saturdays where I link to several distractions that might lead to un-needed ‘spin-offs’ from building that valuable resource that you should focus on, I’m going to leave you with this verse from the philosophical rapper, Rakim, in the song Documentary of a Gangster:

He call the lab the bakery, he all about dough
Stuffing bread his pockets is hungry
You talking nonsense unless the topic is money

He call a hundred dollars a honey
Mami’s he called them dimes
So his mind is on his money
But Mami’s is on his mind

Like an O.G. focus on the come up
Think he F’ing around he approach you with the gun up

Roll the blunt up and forget it happened
Stash the dollars, bag the product and get it cracking

No bright sparkly things for me today, I’m off to go get it cracking…..

 

Right after I’ve checked Twitter ;-)

/ / / / — Leave A Comment, Handsome!
19
Nov 11

Its A Wrap Saturdays #1: The Information Snob Edition

Information Snob

I consume a lot of content, I mean a lot! Blog posts, videos, podcasts, books, films and TV shows. I’ve been trying to cut down on what I spend my time reading, listening to or watching and really stick to the high level stuff that provides some benefit in terms of teaching me something new or expanding my knowledge of an area.

I’ve become an information snob!

Blog post: doesn’t give an impression of high level knowledge instantly, mark as read in my RSS reader
Ooh, new TV show on my favorite torrent site: one bad actor, stop watching after 2 minutes.
Podcast recommendation: recording quality is sub-par, delete from itunes.
10 minute Youtube video: main subject is too ugly, do not want.

The benefit of this upper-middle class “gosh honey, you know we don’t associate with the likes of them” approach to content, is that I come across some absolute gems! The kind of useful, knowledge expanding content that is worth spending 10 minutes consuming.

And because I want you, the reader, to think that I’m some sort of genius e-scholar, and also because becoming a critic of other peoples hard work is clearly the ‘in thing’ right now (top chef, americas next top model – although the ‘hard work’ statement doesn’t apply to the latter) I’m going to start a saturday link roundup.

It’s A Wrap Saturday’s

(h/t to Karol Gajda’s Sweet Shit Saturdays concept for this idea)

So without further ado, let’s get to the links!

[Podcast] The Magic Of Being An Expat And Stories From A Million Dollar Year: This is one of the new podcast episodes in the Tropical Tak Radio Series by Dan & Ian (Of Lifetsyle Business Podcast fame). They talk about what benefits moving to a new location can bring you in terms of networking, mindset and clarity.

This episode really spoke to me. If you wonder why I and others make such a big deal out of travel, entrepreneurship and the ‘expat lifestyle’ – give this episode a listen!

[TV Show] How To Make It In America: To put it plainly, this program is the shit! It’s the story of two young guys trying to hustle and make something of themselves through starting a clothing line while living in New York city.

I’ve been to New York a couple times and loved it – but this show really brings out some of the more low key, subtle ‘nuances’ the city has to offer. The constant “nothing seems to be working but lets keep trying” trait of the main chareacters will be familiar to many as well, although the drama and romance side-stories sometimes get in the way of what is a very motivational & well produced show!

[Book] Eat That Frog: I don’t have a kindle yet so I had to search 3 different bookstores here in Cebu to find a hard copy of this (‘Fully Booked’ in Ayala mall had it in stock). It’s a great book with some brilliant organizational advice and productivity tips.

The biggest thing I’ve taken from it so far, as in the title, is that I should concentrate on the hardest, most off-putting task (eat the big, ugly frog) on my to-do list first before progressing onto the easier stuff. A simple concept that I knew previously, but often ignored. I can say I’ve seen a 5-10% increase in productivity over the past 2 weeks with this change alone. Definitely worth a read.

[YouTube] Door To Door Sales Like A Boss: Check this video out and tell me you wouldnt buy from this guy if he knocked on your door right now! Great watch – and useful for anyone who wants to improve their sales technique (social proof, features vs benefits, etc)

————

That’s it for today. Follow me on Twitter if you would like to see what other worthy content I’m consuming.

/ / — 4 Comments
15
Nov 11

A Change Of Pace – Why I’m Choosing Cebu City Philippines As My Home For The Next 4 Months

Thoughts Of World Domination

ARRRGHH! I’m Pumped!

Now maybe it’s the four instant coffees and two coca colas I’ve downed over the last hour (it’s 11:34pm right now and I’m wired like a stray [phillipino :-s] dog who just found an unattended trash can), but more likely it’s because for the first time in nearly 2 months I’ve had a full day where I felt settled.

I arrived in Cebu City nearly a week and a half ago. I stayed with Ritche & Lee, owners of LMR Infotech solutions (highly recommend them if you’re looking to have iphone apps built).

Ritche & Lee From LMR Infotech Solutions

I’ve been spoilt since I arrived here! Fast internet connections at the LMR office, excellent shopping & chill out spots at Ayala and SM malls, a baller ass peer group doing cool stuff online and improving their lifestyles, chill nightlife and finally: accommodation in a condo with a cool housemate & nearly perfect working conditions .

After speaking to a friend today who’s travelled around most of the Philippines & is a native to the country, I’m convinced that the surrounding areas of the city contain enough sights to feed my wunderlust. Good beaches, stunning (and cooler weather) mountains & some breath taking scenery, I can dig it.

Cebu city just feels right to me, which is weird after my previous post ragging on city life. It’s not the ‘city feel’ that I like though, it’s the opportunities I feel this city presents, it’s almost like I’ve arrived at just the right time.

At the end of one of my favorite TV shows right now, How To Make It In America, the main character Ben Epstein looks out across New York city, having just signed a lucrative business deal, and says to his companion:

“I used to feel like it was mocking me, like it represented everything I wanted but couldn’t have. Tonight, I feel like I got a shot.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself! My second day here, right before donning a full body neon-orange ‘suit’ and zip lining from one tall ass building to another with my friend Tanya, I looked out across Cebu city and had that “world is mine” feeling that is always followed up with mental imagery of me as Scarface, for some reason.

Lewis Quartey As Scarface

I’m ready to step this up!

If you haven’t already, I highly recommend that you listen to this podcast episode by Dan & Ian from TropicalTalk Radio on the TMBA blog. Their thoughts and discussion on mission statements & ‘being an expat’ is gold!

Their talk around the topic of time and how you can reach autonomy and build positive relationships at an accelerated pace living in Asia resonated with me so much! Go and listen and tell me you’re not pumped to move out to the tropics and build your own business tommorow, leveraging everything the ‘location independent’ lifestyle has to offer!

Tuscania Condominium Cebu

Home is where the productive workspace is

All this is to say that I am officially setting up shop in Cebu city for 4 months or more. With MyFreeOnlineStore coming out of the development stages and ready for me to start with promotion, and the e-commerce development & marketing side of things ramping up, 4 months to focus on biznazz and improving my lifestyle (finding a decent gym for example) can only be a good thing!

If you’re in or near Cebu city and want to meet up and grab a coffee, get in contact via email or on Twitter. If you feel like pointing out some of the benefits/drawbacks of Cebu city that I have yet to experience because I’m a n00b – or if you have similar plans to set up shop in the Philippines or anywhere in Asia – I’d love to read your comments below!

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